Category: News

Inspiring action through generosity

The Great Australian Philanthropy Award was awarded to Mr Andrew Forrest AO and Mrs Nicola Forrest for their leadership in giving with impact and offering examples of good practice to encourage further social giving.

This follows their work through the Minderoo Foundation and the announcement in May of one of the Australia’s largest private donations totalling $400m. This includes $75 million dollars specifically earmarked for the Eliminate Cancer Initiative with funding to be used as planning capital to unite, encourage and reward the global cancer industry to collaborate and coordinate their efforts and specialise their focus to accelerate research, development, clinical trials and cancer care delivery.

Continue reading “Inspiring action through generosity”

Reducing Hip Fractures with data

Falling over and breaking any bone, let alone your hip, is not something any of us wants to think about, but it is all too often the reality for older people, with serious consequences.

One in 20 older hip fracture patients will die before they leave the hospital; one in 10 aren’t able to go home and instead transfer to an aged care facility, and more than half are still unable to walk after 12 months.

Continue reading “Reducing Hip Fractures with data”

How a devastating diagnosis inspired a passion for health and medical research

The Incredible Story of Megan Donnell 

When the rare and devastating Sanfilippo Syndrome struck Megan Donnell’s family, she responded by setting up a $3 million Foundation to fund high-quality medical research into the condition. 

Sanfilippo Syndrome is an extremely rare, genetic disorder which causes progressive brain damage. Currently, there is no cure. Reeling from the news that their own two children had been diagnosed with Sanfilippo Syndrome, the Donnell family were reportedly told by doctors “not to bother chasing cures because there aren’t any.” Ms Donnell resigned from her role as a management consultant to establish the Sanfilippo Children’s Foundation.

Continue reading “How a devastating diagnosis inspired a passion for health and medical research”

Australian leads development of world’s largest MS database

Melbourne University’s Professor Helmut Butzkueven has tonight been awarded Research Australia’s Data Innovation Award for his incredible work developing MS Base, the world’s largest Multiple Sclerosis (MS) database sharing, tracking and evaluating clinical data in more than 55,000 people with MS from 33 countries.

Continue reading “Australian leads development of world’s largest MS database”

Top Award for Australian Paediatrician Professor Kim Mulholland

The illustrious Peter Wills Medal was tonight awarded to Professor Kim Mulholland for his lifetime of research to improve the health of children in developing countries. Prof Mulholland has focused on childhood pneumonia, in particular, the evaluation and introduction of new vaccines for the prevention of pneumonia in the developing world.

In a research career spanning more than 30 years, Professor Mulholland has dedicated himself to leading transformative child health research projects across Africa, Asia and the Pacific with incredible outcomes.

Continue reading “Top Award for Australian Paediatrician Professor Kim Mulholland”

The young researcher using zebrafish to understand progressive muscle weakness

Seventy per cent of human genes are found in zebrafish and it’s this incredible commonality which has helped Monash University early career researcher Dr Avnika Ruparelia to better understand the causes of progressive muscle weakness.

At last nights annual Health and Medical Research Awards held by national advocacy body, Research Australia Dr Ruparelia received the Griffith University Discovery Award for her ground-breaking research into the causes and therapeutics for a group of late onset muscle disorders known as myofibrillar myopathies.

Continue reading “The young researcher using zebrafish to understand progressive muscle weakness”

Winners Announced | 2017 Research Australia Health and Medical Research Awards

Research Australia is delighted to announce the results of the 2017 annual Health and Medical Research Awards, now in its 15th year.

Acknowledging talent and excellence in our sector is not only a key part of Research Australia’s role in advocacy for health and medical research, it is also paramount to encouraging future generations of great researchers.

We are proud to announce the winners in the following categories:

Continue reading “Winners Announced | 2017 Research Australia Health and Medical Research Awards”

Federal Budget 2018/19 – Have Your Say

The Assistant Treasurer has called for ideas for next year’s Federal Budget to be submitted by 15 December 2017.

Research Australia is working on its submission and is looking for suggestions from our membership.

Have an idea for something that should be funded by the Commonwealth Government but isn’t?

An area that deserves more funding than it currently gets?

Research Australia wants to hear from you.

Please send your ideas to Greg Mullins or call Greg on 03 9662 9420.

As an example, here is a link to Research Australia’s 2016 pre-budget submission.

Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECS)

Earlier this year, the Productivity Commission handed the Australian Government its report on Data Availability and Use and Research Australia is working with the Taskforce within the Prime Minister’s Department who is developing the Government’s response. A particular area of focus for us, as the national peak body for the medical research pipeline, is the Productivity Commission’s recommendations on Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs).

Read the full blog on the Flying Blind Volume 2 website.

Continue reading “Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECS)”

Visa Simplification

The changes in April this year to occupation lists for temporary work visas highlighted how important both temporary and permanent migration are to Australia’s knowledge economy. While our world is increasingly reliant on electronic forms of communication, the capacity of people to travel from one country to another for the exchange of knowledge and expertise remains essential.

Research Australia’s submission to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s visa and immigration review has highlighted the need for reforms that ensure Australia remains open to the permanent and temporary migration of researchers; and for faster, simpler processes for the issue of temporary visas to researchers coming to Australia to collaborate with Australian colleagues or to use Australian research facilities. It proposes that individuals with PhDs are a valuable and scarce global resource, and that subject to normal background checks there should be a presumption that an individual with a PhD will be allowed entry to Australia. Age limits and restrictions should not be applied to individuals with PhDs and/or with commercialisation expertise, particularly where they have an employer sponsor and/or the application is for temporary residency.

Response to the Policy Consultation paper on Visa Simplification